I stand proud today, the performance against Milan is everything we could have asked for. Did we make up for the result in Milan? I think so and I hope the away fans who went to the San Siro were at the Emirates last night to enjoy it.

We restored a lot of belief, pride and international interest in the Arsenal brand of football with a scintillating display of fast pressing and attacking with verve. I

England played a solid game last night against a determined and skillfull Denmark. The Danes played well and certainly a young Christian Eriksen, who currently plies his trade at Ajax.

Denis Bergkamp recommended this player to Arsene last year and its clear to see why. He would fit in immediately into our squad and style of play. His one touch passing and vision is excellent. He had a great game and if we aren’t going to go for him then I fully expect someone else to do so very soon.

Returning my focus to England and our boys Walcott and Wilshire. Wilshire had an accomplished 45 minutes where he showcased the qualities of his game, he tackled well, moved the ball well and generally had a good performance. With that in mind, I was delighted that he only played 45 minutes. He’s played a lot of football and it was good to rest him for the rest of the game.

Walcott had a stormer last night, his assist for the first goal was excellent considering the whack in the face he took as he bulldozed past the full back Jacobsen to put across an excellent ball for a waiting Bent to tap in. His efforts down the right created several chances and its a game the Danish full back will rue for some time I would think. Theo played to plan and stuck out wide and was rewarded with several opportunities with time and space to get at the full-back, exactly what he wants.

Harking back to the title of the article, did anyone else notice the likes of Glen Johnson, Milner, Terry, Bent playing the full 93odd minutes tonight? We got away with 45minutes for Wilshire and 68minutes for Theo. We’ve got some huge games coming up and we need our best players fit for Wolves then Barca.

Early guesses for the Squad against Wolves, I expect Squillaci to start as Wenger saves the recovering Djourou for Barcelona. Also I think he’ll start Walcott and I have a niggling feeling that Chamakh will start, with Arsene wanting to rest RvP.

I got a text about this, apparently Southampton want to hold onto him until the summer and Arsenal are happy to do this providing he spends two days every week training with us. (similar to Benik Afobe who is on loan at Huddersfield)

Personally I think its a cracking idea, he still gets first-team football but gets to continue his development with us too.

What do you guys think? Would you prefer to keep him under wraps at London Colney? Or send him out in the Championship for matches?

Arsene Wenger said last night that the 8 changes he made to the first team after the game at Chelski had no effect on the game against Wigan. Its a shame for all of his money and brains he’s not got a decent optician.

Diaby and Denilson had a shocker. Everyone in the stand heaved a sigh of relief when Diaby went off and Wilshire came on. We immediately looked a better side as Wilshire and Rosicky were on the same page immediately.

It was a very disjointed performance last night. It lacked pace, power, tenacity – everything that was in abundance against Chelski. When we were 2:1 up and N’Zog got himself sent off Wenger should have immediately put on Walcott and Nasri. Instead he procrastinated and thought we’d just try and see the game out only to watch Wigan equalise. I said just before they scored that if we didn’t make a change soon we’d lose momentum, they’d score and then stick 10 men behind the ball. Exactly what happened. Everyone could see it coming and its disappointing to lose two points like that.

I’m not generally a fan of cheering for a player who’s not on the pitch, but we all felt the same. We needed the dynamism and pace of Nasri and Walcott, so the chants began.

In terms of performances, several things were apparent last night; 1) Squillaci doesn’t talk to anyone. 2) Diaby and Denilson should be sold. – Denilson isn’t a central midfielder, he needs space to work and you don’t get that in central midfield. Diaby is a conundrum in himself, I don’t know what to do with him. He’s so far away from being match fit its ridiculous he started. He was so far off the pace of the game he was practically static. When fit, he’s powerful going forwards, but last night he had a shocker. 3) Bendtner isn’t a right midfielder, at all, ever.

Rosicky was one of our best players last night, Chamakh was tireless in his running and fighting for the ball, Koscielny did well at times, extremely well at others and then made simple mistakes, but generally the back line defended ok…Squillaci really disappointed me last night. He’s capable of much better.

Its such a mixed bag of emotions, decisions should have gone our way that didn’t, but we got decisions we shouldn’t have too, so I cannot complain about it. It all evens out. I just hope we don’t look back at this game and realise its cost us a lot more than two points.

In big games like last night it needs a collective team performance to get a positive result. Last night we got that. Many are pointing to the waning star of Chelsea as a reason for the victory. I think that does Arsenal a disservice and we have much to be proud of,.

I’m loathed to pick out individual performances from such a fantastic team effort, but here are some that stood out for me.

– Wilshire, Young Jack excelled last night. Showing a maturity above his years he was no over-awed by the occasion and excelled in his role. Up against the likes of Fat Frank and Essien he played extremely well and its worth noting that the central midfield of Chelsea were very poor last night. Even swapping Mikel for Ramires did not inspire an insipid performance, no doubt they were hampered by the bustling of Wilshire, Fabregas and Song.

– Song, A great performance by the guy that Wenger said lacked the engine to be a central midfielder (no doubt kidology to make him work harder in training). He was snapping at heels from the first whistle to the last and covered every blade of grass. He’s not perfect, but his goal was well taken and his performance deserves noting. His contribution in keeping Chelsea’s midfield quiet was significant.

– Fabregas, Back to his mercurial best, if not trying a bit hard at times, it was a great game to have him for as his dynamism, drive and vision was a constant thorn to Chelsea and he deserved the applause he got when Wenger brought him off early to an ovation. Excellent performance from the skipper.

– Djourou & Koscielny, Both played extremely well last night to shackle the Drog. Both showed the best and worst of their games. Koscielny wandered once or twice into midfield and got caught when Chelsea broke, Djourou’s timing of headers and runs with opponents was a bit hit and miss but between them an excellent performance.

– Theo, always a threat last night. Cashley was in trouble as soon as he got that stupid booking for kicking the ball away. Theo went past him time and time again and put in crosses (mostly poor) and had a shot on target which forced an excellent save from Cech. Theo’s vision to put Cesc through clean on goal was excellent and he showed great composure to score his goal. Another performance showing the best and worst of a young professional who is clearly improving and showed that in abundance last night.

So, in summary and excellent performance all round. Not one player did poorly and will have much to be happy with today. Next game is paramount however, you’re only as good as your last game and we need to go to the DW up ‘ere in Wigan tomorrow night and get a result.

I’ll see you there in the cold and rain Gooners, its a shame Cesc is suspended, he would have ruined Hendry Thomas and Diame.

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Nasri was superb last night. He was at the core of everything good that went on the game last night. I felt for Chamakh, it just wasn’t his night, everything was a yard too far in front of him or hit to him a bit hard or just caught him unawares. Games like that happen to a striker and hopefully he’ll save a few goals for ManYoo next week.

Arshavin looked exhausted again, I wonder if we need to create a fitness regime for him or keep him back a bit in training to stop him from becoming so tired. It can’t be good that he struggles to play 90 mins after 4 days rest. He was another player who didn’t have a good day at the office, but again I’m hopeful he’s saving himself for monday.

Denilson is a quandrary that I’m struggling to see light at the end of the tunnel for. He’s a solid player, but he needs games to get match fit. That was never more obvious than last night but when he puts in performances like last night who’s going to give him 90mins? I wonder with the dearth of central midfielders that we have now whether he will go in Jan or the Summer. If it was me, I’d try and get him a short term loan somewhere from Jan to the end of the season and see how he does. He’s capable of being a good player but he’s struggling for form.

Walcott showed the best bits of his game last night, he took players on down the line and attacked the space behind the defenders with pace and verve. He showed his quality with a great placed finish. The question is of course, can he do it regularly. He took advantage of tiring legs from Partizan and tore them apart. I don’t deny his quality, but his consistency will be criticised, perhaps unfairly due to injuries and he’s still so very young.

In truth I’m pleased we qualified, I’m not bothered that we’re going to face a good side, you have to face them sometime to win. If we’re good enough we’ll do just that.

He was born in Stanmore, North London and his early years were spent in Newbury, Berks where he played for A.F.C. Newbury scoring over 100 goals in his first season and only season before moving to Swindon Town. He spent 6 months there before being scouted and transferred to Southampton rejecting the chance to join Chelski and earning himself a sponsorship contract with Nike.

For his shame he’s a Liverpool fan.

He made his first team debut for Southampton as a substitute in a 0:0 draw at home to Wolves in 2005 aged 16 years and 143 days. He made his full first team debut away to Leeds United on the 18th October 2005 and scored his first senior goal.

He transferred to Arsenal on the 20th January 2006, for a fee reported to be around

We are away at Villa park this weekend in a game where pride needs to be regained after two bad defeats. It seems we are doing a lot of pride chasing this season, disappointingly so considering the quality we have on the pitch.

To my mind its not our football thats the problem, its not the skills or the height of the players thats the problem. Its the team mentality. If Wenger can’t scream at them and motivate them then they need a leader on the pitch to do it. For too long we’ve had players who lead by example. Leading by example doesn’t make anyone buck their ideas up..it makes them think they’ve got a crutch to lean on when they aren’t playing up to scratch.

A lot is made of our lack of a leader, but I do believe as Wenger says its a collective responsibility to communicate and support and chastise in a constructive manner. We need our players to find their voices. Bendtner has a big gob but doesn’t use it to tell players where he wants the ball, if you can’t be arsed to run, ask for it to feet!. Walcott is the fastest thing on two feet at the club but doesn’t tell people to put it over the top or run into space screaming for it. He should work those channels all the time and kill the left back that he’s playing against. But he doesnt. He drops short, plays little one twos and cuts inside.

We have got a team who play combinations, they play them blindfolded so when it doesn’t work it really doesn’t work and we lose to silly opponents. The maturity isnt there to be brave enough to tell the other players in the team what you want to get the best out of your game.

So what to do away to the Villains? Arshavin and Theo on the wings, Nasri through the middle with Wilshire and Song supporting. We will counter attack them with pace and try and play through them, hoping Chamakh can continue his form up front.

Hoping… thats not going to win us this league. We need to improve, now.

Arsenal take on Braga tonight in a Champions league tie that should promise much for us Arsenal fans. It should see the return to the starting line up for Wilshire, perhaps a rest for Fabregas and Chamakh with Nasri taking up the Fabregas role and a rare start for Bendtner perhaps?

This should be a game where Walcott and Rosicky (both of whom I expect to start) attempt to stake their claim for a more regular starting berth. I really really like Rosicky and I see the benefit every time he is on the pitch. Walcott has been struggling to repeat his early season form since his injury but will want to prove himself again.

Tonights opponents, humbled at the Emirates promise to be a bit wiser this time. The manager and their supporters are happy to play for a draw and have said as much in the media and on Arsenal.com. Don’t be fooled, Braga know a win against us would see them cement their 3rd place and put them level on points with us in the group, albeit being 3rd due to goal difference.

Partizan have nothing but pride to play for and I don’t expect them to prove tough opposition to Shakhtar. Which turns the game tonight into a Must-win….another one…as they all are from here until may.

We can’t afford to drop any points here, if we win at least we’ve qualified, job done, play the kids in the last group game. That should be the focus tonight. Get the result we should have got in Shakhtar.